Astros on wrong side of celebration after 3 costly homers

HOUSTON -- Champagne was consumed at Daikin Park on Friday night. But not in the home team’s clubhouse.

Peter Lambert, AJ Blubaugh and Enyel De Los Santos each served up a two-run homer as the Astros fell, 6-2, to the Atlanta Braves, who clinched a postseason berth.

The Braves -- who have won their last five games at Daikin, including the 2021 World Series clincher -- were hitless with one out in the fourth. Lambert then surrendered a single to Matt Olson before serving up a two-run homer to Michael Harris II.

Blubaugh got Houston out of a bases-loaded jam created by Lambert in the sixth when he struck out Mike Yastrzemski and retired Austin Riley on a liner to second. But after Blubaugh walked Drake Baldwin with one out in the seventh, Ronald Acuna Jr. followed with a home run to left.

After Isaac Paredes’ second RBI single of the game made it 4-2 and put the tying runs on base with two outs in the eighth for the Astros, Jose Altuve was retired when Acuna completed a long sprint with a diving catch in shallow right field. Olson hit a two-run homer off De Los Santos in the Atlanta ninth.

Yordan Alvarez went 1 for 2 with two walks to stretch his lead in the American League batting race. Alvarez upped his average to .312, putting him four points ahead of Chandler Simpson, who was 0-for-5 in Tampa Bay’s loss to Boston.